Hong Kong and Macau

This is it. The last day in Asia before Chad and I catch a redeye to Australia. We've spent the last 5 days in Hong Kong which has been a huge change from South East Asia. For one thing, Hong Kong is every bit as first world as NYC (if not more so). No more worrying about whether we will have a flushable toilet, whether we can brush our teeth with the water or whether we will catch malaria. On the other hand, the prices have skyrocketed. Hong Kong is a great city though and truly international. It has one foot in China (it is a territory of China) and one foot in the western world (it was a British territory as recently as 10 years ago). The good news is that most people speak English and it is easy to get around. The better news is that the Giants playoff game was televised live in some of the bars here at 5:30 in the morning. Yes, I watched with some fellow new yorkers as the Giants beat the Cowboys and are headed to the NFC Championship game! Other things about Hong Kong: they have some of the best public transportation I have seen on my trip, they have THE best skyline and the city reminds me of New York - except on steroids - the streets here are packed with more people in a less amount of space. You should see how small our hotel room is!

We also took a day trip to Macau - which was a territory of Portugal until recently. Macau is China's version of Las Vegas, except the city is in its infancy and just beginning to really develop. They have just built copies of the Wynn Hotel and the Venetian and more hotels are on their way. One big difference though is that typical American games are hard to find. There was only one craps table and no poker. Bacarat is extremely popular but I couldn't figure out how to play! Also, if you walk 10 minutes away from the water where all the casinos are, you end up in the Unesco-protected area. The area looks straight out of Europe and is filled with Portugese restaurants and European architecture. Very odd since Europe is on the other side of the world.

Now, the next phase of my trip -- Australia and New Zealand. Hopefully I pick up the Australian slang quickly because a lot of English words have difference meanings over there (i.e. "thongs" are sandals over there). You could really get yourself into trouble. More from the land of Oz when I get there...